NHL 2K8 VeNOM Sliders v.2021

[MuzzUK]

Quote: Originally Posted by VeNOM3099

Yeah, the AI in 2K8 leaves a bit to be desired at times compared to 2K10. But you can coax them into cycling the puck more by being in front of them and taking away the shooting lane. We are talking about a 13 year old game after all. Thankfully the spectacular goaltending won't let you down... too much.

I found so some reason the speed sliders really effected my teams defensive positioning. I made a few tweaks and the CPU rushed a lot lot less and my Dmen would be better positioned. This then forces the AI to pass more I mean its no where near 2k10 but so much better.

[VeNOM3099]

Quote: Originally Posted by MuzzUK

I found so some reason the speed sliders really effected my teams defensive positioning. I made a few tweaks and the CPU rushed a lot lot less and my Dmen would be better positioned. This then forces the AI to pass more I mean its no where near 2k10 but so much better.

Yeah. Speed affects things like hits and skating. But also Offensive and Defensive Skill will affect those two as well. So it's a game of finding the correct setting that won't make you smash everything flat with just a touch (like EA's games) and won't make the game too fast.

I've been playing with the settings too and I think I got what I consider my "Final" settings, but I've been a bit busy of late going back and forth to a couple of hospitals for my condition. I also finally have a date for my operation this June and it can't come soon enough. It's also why I haven't been posting much either.

I'll try to post it up when I can.

[MuzzUK]

Intense Contact Controk

Anyone know what this actually does? and does anyone know if game speed effects number of penalty calls?

[VeNOM3099]

Quote: Originally Posted by MuzzUK

Intense Contact Controls Anyone know what this actually does? and does anyone know if game speed effects number of penalty calls?

I believe that function would activate the X button (on Xbox 360) and give you a few new moves. The more aggressive your player was, the more "intense" the moves would be, like hooking, tripping, checking from behind, etc.

You could still use the X button without them turned on, but they would mostly do nothing.

Essentially, turning on intense contact controls would give you more penalties from the AI.

[MuzzUK]

So some big observations on NHL 2K8 trial and error by myself.... also I'm a massive numpty and I've been playing for 2-3 weeks without a sprint button

I have been playing using 2k7 advanced controls. I made this choice to have more standard controls when I realised the game had no stick shooting but what a mistake that was. OMG I didn't realise this game had two speed boost spring and speed boost. I've been trying to adjust sliders and AI settings to make the game fair and cut down on breakaways. Switched to Pro Stick and now using spring I'm such an idiot. I just assumed the AI was better at using speed boost so having my players faster countered this. I now know than sprint is needed for positioning and the actually play properly.

The only annoying thing about Pro Stick is you have to poke check with the right stick which is far less accurate than button press and no way to re-assign.

My stupid mistake has made me realise that penalty calls in this game are 100% related to a couple of things things.

Game speed, sprint and pen slider . I went from having 1 or 2 calls a game to 6 in my first game.

Hopefully my gameplay and realisation will help others trying to tweak the game. Venom's slider now work so much more and make so much sense and feel good. I'll post my 6 minute Venom sliders once I've played a few games with them using the actual working controls for 2k8

[VeNOM3099]

Quote: Originally Posted by MuzzUK

So some big observations on NHL 2K8 trial and error by myself.... also I'm a massive numpty and I've been playing for 2-3 weeks without a sprint button I have been playing using 2k7 advanced controls. I made this choice to have more standard controls when I realised the game had no stick shooting but what a mistake that was. OMG I didn't realise this game had two speed boost spring and speed boost. I've been trying to adjust sliders and AI settings to make the game fair and cut down on breakaways. Switched to Pro Stick and now using spring I'm such an idiot. I just assumed the AI was better at using speed boost so having my players faster countered this. I now know than sprint is needed for positioning and the actually play properly. The only annoying thing about Pro Stick is you have to poke check with the right stick which is far less accurate than button press and no way to re-assign. My stupid mistake has made me realise that penalty calls in this game are 100% related to a couple of things things. Game speed, sprint and pen slider . I went from having 1 or 2 calls a game to 6 in my first game. Hopefully my gameplay and realisation will help others trying to tweak the game. Venom's slider now work so much more and make so much sense and feel good. I'll post my 6 minute Venom sliders once I've played a few games with them using the actual working controls for 2k8

You can also flick the RS for an actual sweeping poke check (something EA doesn't have). Also you get something called "On the Fly Coaching" which is set up to your D-pad (without the trigger modifiers) for both offense and defense and they work really well. On offense tap up to make the skaters rush at the net, left to make them screen the goalie, down to make the defense pinch in and right to call for help if you get pinned on the boards. On defense you can tap down to call for a Collapse, left to Clear the Front of the Net, up to release a forward up the ice or right to call for help. It's really quite ingenious. And it's "on the fly", so your AI will do what you want, WHEN you want.

And yes, as you found out there are TWO sprint modes in 2K8. A regular sprint, which is RIGHT Trigger (IIRC) and a boost which is A Button. You'll want to use Right Trigger most of the time and only use A to boost sparingly as it depletes your stamina quickly.

[MuzzUK]

Penalty calls.


I have been running some tests to generate more calls based on 5 to 6 minute periods.


Essentially pen slider, composure and aggression seem to be the main stats and team roughness but not so much. I took the 1960s all star team and put all player composure to 0 and aggression on 99.


I played 4 games using slightly modded default sliders.


Calls were


2-2
0-5
2-4


This is much better than the one or two calls i generally get. I think pen calls is the main weakness with 2k8. This was done in quick game so morale and fatigue are not present like you have in franchise or season.


Going to try this with Venoms sliders. My hit slider is set to zero for tests. My next test is to go through rosters and change all the aggression and composure sliders to try.

[VeNOM3099]

Quote: Originally Posted by MuzzUK

Penalty calls. I have been running some tests to generate more calls based on 5 to 6 minute periods. Essentially pen slider, composure and aggression seem to be the main stats and team roughness but not so much. I took the 1960s all star team and put all player composure to 0 and aggression on 99. I played 4 games using slightly modded default sliders. Calls were 2-2 0-5 2-4 This is much better than the one or two calls i generally get. I think pen calls is the main weakness with 2k8. This was done in quick game so morale and fatigue are not present like you have in franchise or season. Going to try this with Venoms sliders. My hit slider is set to zero for tests. My next test is to go through rosters and change all the aggression and composure sliders to try.

Yeah. The one thing that made slider editing in 2K8 a pain was that it was fairly difficult to get the results you wanted because one slider tended to change many aspects of the gameplay. For example you could affect game speed by changing the Offensive Skill slider, but it also affected hit power. The Defensive Skill slider also affected Hits, but it also affected your teammates aggression, etc.

Go too hard with one thing and something else would break. It drove me insane at times! LOL